ESAs consult on Packaged Retail and Insurance-Based Investment Products with Environmental or Social Objectives

10 February 2017:

The European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) launched today a consultation on a proposal to set minimum requirements, which manufacturers of packaged retail and insurance-based investment products with environmental or social objectives (EOS PRIIPs) should comply with to ensure that credible products are offered to retail investors. This consultation is in response to a European Commission call for advice.

The manufacturer of an EOS PRIIP is required to have specific governance measures in place to ensure that environmental or social objectives are met on an ongoing basis and must be able to demonstrate the relevance of these objectives to retail investors throughout the investment process.

The consultation paper provides an analysis of the current legal framework for product oversight and governance rules and considers whether there are possible gaps regarding EOS PRIIPs. Existing product oversight and governance provisions, laid down in the relevant legislation for PRIIPs, including MiFID II and the Insurance Distribution Directive, are in general found to be sufficient for PRIIPs in general. However, for EOS PRIIPs, the ESAs consider that it is important for the European Commission to provide additional guidance to the respective manufacturers when interpreting these existing rules.

The ESAs invite stakeholders and interested parties to provide their feedback on the draft Technical Advice. The consultation closes on 23 March 2017. Comments submitted after the deadline or not submitted via the provided template cannot be processed.

Responses to the consultation can be sent by clicking on the following link .

Background

Packaged retail investment and insurance products (PRIIPs) cover the range of investment products marketed to retail investors, a market worth up to €10 trillion in the European Union. They include structured products, whatever their underlying legal form and including structured deposits, insurance-based investments (including unit-linked and with-profit products), and all kinds of investment funds.